DHAKA: Rescuers scouring the rubble of two Manhattan apartment buildings levelled in a gas explosion found the body of an eighth victim on Thursday, nearly 36 hours after the disaster.

An unspecified number of people remain missing after Wednesday’s building collapse in East Harlem, which sparked inevitable reminders for some New Yorkers of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 that brought down the Twin Towers.

The New York Police Department told media that five women and three men were killed, and 68 others injured.

Earlier Thursday, before the eighth death was announced, New York mayor Bill de Blasio said he hoped survivors might still be found, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1230 HRS, MAR 14, 2014